Resume writing and career advicejob search tips/workplace trends

Below is a question from readers of this section, and answers from Steven Rothberg of collegerecruiter.com, a leading source of information for college students, grads and recent graduates who are seeking employment, continuing education and business opportunities.

This is the third of a three-part series with responses from Rothberg. Here is the question and Rothberg's response:

Question: I have read different things about e-mailing materials to employers. In the past, I have sent a resume and cover letter via attachment, written a short introduction message in the e-mail body and included hyperlinks to clips via my Web site. But I have read about the e-resume lately. Is it best to always paste the plain text resume and letter in the body? Or paste and attach the documents? If the instructions for a job posting simply give an e-mail address with no instructions, what should be the protocol for resume/cover letter submission?

Rothberg: If the employer has not provided instructions, type your cover letter and paste your resume into the body of your email and attach a copy of your resume as a PDF and Word 2003 document. Larger employers tend to have multiple recruiters and this is one of those issues where reasonable people differ on what is best. It really comes down to individual preference. Some recruiters prefer not to open attachments but even amongst those who do prefer attachments some prefer PDF's and some prefer Word documents. And amazingly, recruiters within one organization will often differ on what they prefer so my recommended approach just about guarantees that you'll provide your information to the recruiter the way that they want to receive it.